something, and something else

who'd have thought, that after all, something as simple as rock 'n' roll could save us all

2011-06-08T18:21:00.001+09:30

and my love for FT continues....

frank turner is awesome

2011-04-26T15:42:00.000+09:30

last weekend joe and i journeyed to bris-vegas to see that genius of punk-folk, frank turner. who is frank turner, you ask? he is the genius of punk-folk, thats who.

Pumped. Clearly.

the show was at a little dive-bar which reminded me a lot of enigma, in adelaide, minus the underaged punks and alien vs predator statues. there were plenty of emo and punk-esque people in the early 20s-type age bracket, making me feel about 40 years old. we pushed our way close to the front, where i questioned why i continue to attend gigs when, clearly i hate everybody, especially that guy in front of me who managed to clamp his armpit around my nose for much of the support act. luckily, just in time frank turner arrived to unite us all in song, calming my anger and murderous intentions towards the people standing in front of me.

much of my view of the frank turner show looked like this:

Watching shows through other people's cameras is awesome

with little glimpses of this:

and this:

despite the shitty photos, Frank Turner reigned supreme. best gig for a very very long time (regardless of living in alice springs where, there are no gigs), possibly even ever.

my first day

2011-02-07T17:16:00.000+09:30

8:30-8:45am - arrive, quick tour of the building, get given uniform shirt
8:45-9:30am - go to cafe for coffee with direct supervisor for program run-down
9:30-11:30am - meet with ceo for overview of organisation
11:30 - 11:45am - get advised that direct supervisor has gone to hospital as wife is in labour. attempt to turn computer on, to no avail. get advised that the team is heading into town for lunch.
11:45 - 1:30pm - lunch at sporties
1:30 - 2:00pm - turn computer on, have all accounts etc set up
2:00 - 3:00pm - staff meeting followed by cake for someone's birthday
3:00 - 4:30pm - spend the afternoon reading up on my projects, and making a list of stuff to ask my supervisor when he gets back.

not in kansas anymore!

wow

2011-02-05T16:08:00.000+09:30

incredible image from karl largerfeld's studio library, via the selby

sunset / sunrise

2011-02-04T20:54:00.001+09:30

another moonta sunset. for me, this view never gets old.

Friday night after my final day at work in my current (well, now former) job. I have mixed feelings about leaving my current job, to leave a place where my employers are happy with my work, I know the job and my colleagues, I know I'm doing a fairly good job, for a position that is somewhat undefined, where after my second interview I'm not even sure why they offered me a job. A little bit daunting. It would be nice to have a little break in between... But unfortunately that is not to be and I'll need to wait until the wedding for a break! Let's just hope this little change really is as good as a holiday...

lovely holiday

2011-02-02T20:50:00.002+09:30

my christmas and new year holiday was SO lovely. no stress, no work, no people hassling me about when i'm going to have babies. this picture just about sums it up....

view from the deck at joe's family beach house, moonta bay, SA - where we spent new year with our wonderful 'adelaide' friends.

mix cd

2011-01-30T15:32:00.002+09:30

i haven't made a mix cd for so long, but it used to be one of my favourite things to do. i'm not particularly good at it, well, put it this way, i'm not afraid to mix pantera with emiliana torrini, so don't very often inflict my musical randomness onto others.

jacqui, however, is the lucky recipient of a double mix cd for her upcoming road trip. we don't exactly see musically eye-to-eye, my tastes vary from one end of the spectrum to the other, and so sometimes there is a cross over. so i had a few criteria when choosing songs for this cd:

i had to LOVE the song
it had to be a song that jacqui MIGHT like
it had to be a song that was fun to sing along to
it had to be good driving music

and with that, i present:

hanging outside at the back of a death metal show : to jac, from bec

the road : frank turner
frank turner is my favourite at the moment, i love his lyrics and the whole idea of him. he used to be in a hardcore band, but has since gone solo with a sort of folky-country style, with just the right amount of anger! the road is an awesome song, and a perfect way to start off a road trip! my favourite lyric: i face the horizon, everywhere i go. i face the horizon, the horizon is my home.

the high road : broken bells
i am a huge fan of the shins. broken bells is the collaboration between james mercer of the shins, and danger mouse (the producer who made up one half of gnarles barkly), and this song is just, really cool. their whole album is great, i would recommend it!

part of the process : morcheeba
i know! morcheeba? i will start by saying, i am NOT a morcheeba fan. joe is. but i LOVE this song, i love the country style languid pace of it, and when i hear it i picture the view out the window of a car driving through wheat/farming country, like north west (?) victoria, endless yellow paddocks and low fences.

plateau : nirvana
i know nirvana didn't write this song, i think they only covered it on their MTV unplugged album, but i just love it. the chorus is my favourite.

rockin' the suburbs : ben folds
when you listen to this song, picture joe rocking out in the lounge room. it is one of his favourite dancing songs! so much fun.

the opposite of adults : chiddy bang
there had to be one hip hop song on here! this song is really cool - samples MGMT, and is really fun! it was noosh and my favourite song to hear on the radio in 2010!

brimful of asha : cornershop
i just love this retro sounding song, and the filmclip is super cute.

que onda guero : beck
my favourite song from my favourite beck album. the lyrics are so freaking random! i had to google what they actually said, and they're gold. some of the best:
I dunno I saw a puppet at tang's with a mullet and a popsicle
Hey whats up guero? You doing pushups?
Lets go to cap'n cork. they have the new yanni cassette.

hunting for witches : bloc party
this is one of mine and joe's favourite singalong song in the car! so good!

get miles : gomez
gomez is one of mine and joe's favourite ever bands. they are so amazing live, and this song is the best! the singers voice is so powerful, it gives me shivers. he sounds like some kind of black louis armstrong type guy, but he's just a white dude, possibly with glasses. every time joe and i take a road trip, we listen to this song as we're leaving!

a simple goodbye : the cruel sea
one of the best live acts i've seen. SO worth seeing if they ever tour, and tex perkins is awesome! love this song.

spin my thread : custom kings
cute, easygoing song with fun lyrics - whats not to like? my favourite bit: i only speak for myself man who the hell else would i speak for?

heartstopper : emiliana torrini
this song is really sweet, good to sing along to!

we're going to be friends : the white stripes
one of my favourite bands, this song is so cute and fun.

you know i'm no good : amy winehouse
whats a mix cd without a bit of wino? this is my favourite from her album.

superfly : curtis mayfield
the most awesome blacksploitation film ever! this just sounds like the 70s to me! must be sung in falsetto!

animals : lisa mitchell
cute song, a bit more upbeat than some of the others. my favourite album of a year or two ago.

tundra : vince noir, howard moon
say no more.

sweet caroline : neil diamond
WTF we have a neil diamond album in our itunes, i have NO idea where it came from but i love it! sweet caroline is one of the songs my parents and i used to belt out on road trips - so so so much fun to sing along to.

suck my kiss : red hot chilli peppers
punky funky funk from my alltime favourite album, blood sugar sex magik. chilli peppers are my favourites and i LOVE this song. my favourite songs from this album i really feel have to be listened to within the context of the album, which is why i couldn't use one of them for this cd.

the magic : joan as police woman
the lady who looks sort of like stars. i just bought this album and i already love this song. very beautiful.

palaces of montezuma : grinderman
i never really got into nick cave, but i love this grinderman album, and especially this song. so beautiful.

tijuana 500 : the mess hall
little bit more rocky, this song is awesome!

renegades of funk : rage against the machine
i don't know how other people feel about the renegades album from rage, but i love it. this is definitely one of my favourite songs from my favourite rage album.

steady, as she goes : raconteurs
best way to get another jack white song on here! this song is super cool and great driving muic

cherry bomb : the runaways
whats not to love!

gold lion : yeah yeah yeahs
BIG singalong song, you feel like a rockstar when you sing it!

this is how it goes : missy higgins
i know i'm dorky but i loved missy higgins' first album. i love this song because it reminds me of how i used to crack it at joe and storm off expecting him to follow me, and he never would, i'd have to go back to him and generally look like a fool. why are girls such idiots!? anyway i'm sure it will ring true for you too.

to take you home : frank turner
more FT! because i love him. i think this is my favourite song from love, ire and song, because the sound changes so much within the song, it caters to my musical ADD. cool lyrics and sweet sentiment. my favourite lyric: honey i was lonely i was on the road all alone, hanging outside at the back of a death metal show.

fall at your feet : boy and bear
just a pretty song, its a cover of croweded house and i like singing along to it.

skinny love : bon iver
same thing, pretty song that i like singing along to.

little wing : jimi hendrix
my alltime favourite jimi hendrix song, this song is beautiful.

xoxo

stuff i've sewn with my new sewing machine

2010-10-24T11:54:00.000+09:30

singer tradition (is that engrish??): "simple to use - ideal for beginners". looks like a toy!

a cushion cover that is too small for an actual cushion, and made from ugly fabric. plus its not quite square which is annoying considering how hard i tried to get the measurements right. but i'm pretty happy with the way the stripes all line up.

i sewed up the sleeves of an old top that had weird sleeves. you can't see them at all in this picture but its the truth. i never wore that top because of the sleeves. then i wore it last night!

a pocket for the really crappy sewing machine cover that came with the machine, which turned out to be pointless because once i put the pedal and cords in there the plastic tore. oh well!
i don't think i'm going to be particularly good at sewing but its pretty fun!

some books don't need to be made into movies

2010-10-05T21:35:00.001+09:30

despite being someone who is fairly indifferent to pretty much everything, i was completely horrified to hear that Jack Kerouac's masterpiece, On The Road, has been, or is currently being made into a film.

On The Road is without a doubt one of my all time favourite books. it is an incredible story and takes the reader on a crazy, amazing ride. but there is really no beginning, no climax, no conclusion. thats almost the point of the story. i cannot see how it can be made into a movie except with a lot of adaptation, which, at the end of the day, kills Kerouac's much slaved over and admired writing style: spontaneous prose. his story is supposed to carry its readers with it, to take them on a journey. On The Road is the sort of book that you read breathlessly, you need to consume it and savour the small details, the use of words that bring what Sal Paradise experiences, to life.

'Tim Gray, Stan, Babe and I spent an entire week of afternoons in lovely Denver bars where the waitresses wear slacks and cut around with bashful, loving eyes, not hardened waitresses but waitresses that fall in love with the clientele and have explosive affairs and huff and sweat and suffer from one bar to another;'...*

paragraphs such as this, which are so beautiful to read, are the essence of this story. this is what will be lacking in a film adaptation - if anyone can manage to convey the feelings you get from reading such words, in a film, they are a magician.

sometimes, words are enough.

*i found this paragraph by opening the book to a random page - most pages in this book contain such words of meaning and beauty that do so much to enrich the story and which i don't think could possibly be portrayed on screen.

LOVE

2010-09-26T10:16:00.000+09:30

my new house of harlow stack ring

was it an impulse buy? yes.

but have i taken it off? no.

numbers

2010-09-11T07:45:00.000+09:30

i'm not much of a maths person. i never knew numbers could look so pretty.

(image from typography served via ffffound.com)

decorator

2010-09-06T22:33:00.001+09:30

looking through these images on ffffound.com, my thoughts were... sighhhhh, my house will never look like this

i realised thats because i cant make a decision on what look i like the best. all of them? could i have each room in my house a different style? probably not, i'll keep dreaming.

for lack of something to write about

2010-07-20T14:28:00.000+09:30

our backyard - a work in progress

fresh flowers on my table

fun but impractical new shoes

rosettes made from sewing patterns

new painting, new red tights, new fun but impractical new shoes

dinner with friends

pretty clouds

new chairs - on loan (indefinitely) from joe's brother

finally - some decisions!

2010-06-27T08:32:00.002+09:30

more wedding progress has been made in the past week than all of this year! i'm starting to feel a bit excited again instead of hating the idea!

venue tentatively booked! (yes, you have to book the great outdoors - damn you hiking groups!)

the date has been decided!

march in alice springs:

average maximum temperature: 33 degrees c

average minimum temperature: 18 degrees c

average number of days with more than 1mm of rain: 2.2

average number of clear days: 16

good enough for me!

invitations have been started (i think red robin would kill me for posting her sketches though!) and looking good!

dresses:

ok, short blue one aside these would look pretty bad on me but i can still dream about wearing something from bianca spender's ss10 collection! (images from vogue)

stevie dance

2010-06-08T20:24:00.000+09:30

as much as i love vogue, i have to say that russh is a bi-monthly breath of fresh air - so nice to see fashion shoots that are about art before advertising. stevie dance is one talented and inspiring lady.

it would be pretty hard not to be awesome though, with a name like stevie dance, right? i wonder if thats her real name...

all images from steviedance.com

polyester madness

2010-05-30T13:32:00.000+09:30

ebay is awesome. for example, i recently purchased this delightful 70s tulip sleeved dress for a mere $9.99 (plus postage) (note: not me in the photo).

on the other hand, i also impulse-bid on this - which, at a glance, appeared to be a jumpsuit/onesie, that i thought would be hilarious to wear to a friend's upcoming 70s themed birthday party:

that is not a belt, friends.

hindsight

2010-05-25T20:24:00.000+09:30

you know how on road trips, sometimes you just don't know when to stop for the night?

'no, no, lets keep driving. we'll stay in parkes instead'

..............................

damn you, parkes.

a modern dilemma

2010-05-15T14:44:00.000+09:30

has anyone else ever heard the 'rule' about not wearing stockings with open toed shoes? i'm not sure how but it has been something that i've always had in my head as something i'm not allowed to do.

so imagine my distress at seeing all these images of people's open toed shoes looking fabulous with stockings underneath. what to do? it would certainly extend my winter shoe options...

call me crazy but i think i'm going to throw caution to the wind and give it a go. since i can't remember where this rule came from, i'm unlikely to be busted breaking it by whoever it was that told me! my favourite studded heels will look hot with some red/pink/purplish tights underneath!

and then of course there is socks with heels. which i think i love. but cannot imagine ever actually wearing.

pretty sure my legs aren't long enough for something like that.

all of the images are from jak and jil, jeanna sohn, and there is one or two randoms that i'm not sure about.

surprise party!

2010-05-09T10:18:00.000+09:30

we had a very successful surprise party last night! lots of fun. jacques, the 20-minute bunting was a hit!

daily delight

2010-05-04T20:52:00.002+09:30

today i received an email from joe, asking if i wanted to have lunch, which, of course i did. lunch would have been the highlight of my day - except that about an hour later, i got another email from joe, saying, 'i can't help myself! your ring arrived, i wanted to wait until tonight when you got home to give it to you, but i was too excited so i was going to surprise you at lunch, but i couldn't wait and i had to tell you now!'. so cute! so even more than finally getting my engagement ring, that email made my day!

the style i've ended up with is so different to what i always thought i would have as an engagement ring. if someone had asked me a year ago what kind of engagement ring i wanted, i would have said the george jensen centenary ring, or various other versions of a minimalist solitaire. then when i started looking at ring styles for real, with the thought in mind that i would be wearing it for the rest of my life, rings that i would never have considered looking at started really appealing to me. i would never have thought i'd be wearing something so girly and vintage-looking. but i love it!

(nb: excuse my weird red hands and sausage-fingers! yuck!)

hopefully this will provide me with the motivation i need to get to the gym a bit more.... a pretty sparkly reminder that there is a wedding coming up!

you must find something in each day to delight you*

2010-05-03T09:16:00.002+09:30

sounds like a plan, *rob ryan.

todays delight (so far, its early but seeing as i'm getting ready to go in to work on a public holiday, i'm not expecting anything further today!) has been my whole morning. it sounds awful but i am the sort of person who needs 'alone time' every now and then, joe went camping last night so its been great having the house to myself.

reading my book in bed, finally working out how to use our coffee machine...

looking through the photos that i finally had developed from my baby-d and finding some good ones amongst all the rubbish (i truly am a terrible photographer!)

having some time to look for wedding venues and finding the queen's theatre in adelaide... could this be it? i hope so... i'm tired of everything being up in the air. its either this or find somewhere around alice, need to make a decision soon!

being inspired by the olsens yet again, they put together some truly amazing outfits.

(image via olsens anonymous)

i wonder if i'll really be able to find something in each day to delight me. it will be a good exercise i think, to focus on the small things that differ every day instead of feeling completely stuck in a rut because overall, each day is the same.

ps i am still wrestling with formatting my posts. it just doesn't like me for some reason. i mean, 'centre align' doesn't have any other meanings, does it. and yet these images are all over the place. random...

an announcement

2010-05-02T10:23:00.004+09:30

i'm in love with proenza schouler's fall 2010 rtw collection.

pleats, mixed textures, graphic prints, leather, bubble hems, layering... yes, i would marry it if i could.

thank you style.com for the images.

a change of career?

2010-04-13T20:38:00.000+09:30

ha ha - who am i kidding. i don't have a career! i instead have had a series of jobs in which i manage to gain enough relevant experience to climb up to the next job. each new job is certainly better than the last (ok, with the exception of the 'memorial' company - nothing wrong with the company, just an incredibly unchallenging job) but after around 6 months, boredom sets in, i stop giving a shit, and start looking again.

my current job is a little bit different. it is something that i thought i really wanted to do, is probably a job that i am lucky to have, and am somewhat lacking in experience in. it was more a matter of being in the right place at the right time (read: middle of australia where no one with the sort of experience they were looking for, was willing to move), being the best of a probably bad bunch, etc etc.

ok i might be exaggerating a bit and being too hard on myself - i did have a lot of the qualities they were looking for in my job. just a few things lacking, and i'm feeling at the moment like i'm never going to get there. and i don't know if i can be bothered - i'm not actually enjoying the job.

so what to do? stick it out - master the challenges, and things will get better? or cut my losses and start looking for something new?

actually work out what i want to do with my life and put the wheels in motion towards getting there?

as always, i feel, the answer is to drink some more wine.

thanks so much alli for the lovely blog award! i will get to that soon!

vintage possibilities

2010-02-15T21:45:00.004+09:30

i was so inspired today after seeing these amazing vintage pearl collars on west aussie wedding, it got me thinking... how lovely would it be to wear a beautiful, old wedding dress?

so i checked out the internets (where else?)... so many gorgeous dresses from the early 1900s onwards - i love the idea of wearing something 100 years old that belonged to someone who obviously liked the same things as me! i wonder how possible it would be to research the history of any of these garments to find out more about the original owners...

imagine this skirt worn with a really plain tank top... chantilly lace and ruffled skirt from the early 1900s.

i wish i lived in the 20s! ok that might be taking things a bit far (hello... prohibition) but it would have been nice to have a fabulous flapper great-grandmother to hand me down some dresses like these! (not that i would have traded my own wonderful great grandmother for anything... no matter how lovely the frock!)

such beautiful beadwork! truly amazing! especially that sexy black one...

or perhaps something a little more demure...

even better would be if my imaginary back-up great-grandmother was rich. and wore lanvin. in particular, THIS dress by lanvin:

oh lordy!

the 50s had plenty of super-sweet dresses

but really, does anyone actually have a waist this size? i do love the neckline and pleated skirt and colour of the top one... hmmm.

i turned up a couple of possibilities from the 60s...

and whats this? hey - something good DID come out of the 80s! How fun is this skirt/top combo?

this one: not so good.

all of these beautiful dresses (and the hideous 80s monstrosity) found on antique dress - worth a visit!!

and the search continues...

why does the weekend have to end!

2010-02-07T19:04:00.001+09:30

sunday night is always a little depressing - a small feeling of dread at the beginning of yet another week of work...

i'm trying to overcome this by celebrating the fact that my weekend was really fun. granted, i slept most of saturday away but still managed to fit enough in...

friday night started with a hens night... and ended with a bucks night... so much fun!

delicious hangover breakfast (okay... it was 3pm) of potato fritters with smoked salmon and mustard dressing... bill granger has the best breakfast recipes!

a bike ride... one of life's simple pleasures!

lovely bbq on saturday night with cocktails, champagne, and lots of great food!

tug-of-war with my dog...

and still time to find some super cute things on the internets! this is from dace - i love the shape of this dress, the detailing around the neckline, the way the top falls, and the pockets of the skirt!

sweet yellow shoes... both these pictures were found through oh joy - she finds the most wonderful things and really does take all the hard work out of searching for things i love!

still not sure how i'm going to make it through the week...!

baby d

2010-02-03T18:44:00.001+09:30

so excited when my mini diana arrived today! so much disproportioned cuteness!

now: to learn how to take a decent photo...

also a big welcome back to my blog-brother (well, sister, but that doesn't sound as good) red robin over at the gimcrackery. we have her unemployment to thank for a return to her long-neglected blog... super cute random finds, pretty patterns and general randomness ahoy!

ps i'm quite sure that disproportioned is not a real word. but you know what i mean!?

no more!

2010-01-30T11:39:00.004+09:30

i've just realised that my last few posts have been wedding related - oops! how boring!

ok, no more!

look at this:

go rowan!

moonta bay, sa

2010-01-30T08:04:00.006+09:30

we've come back from joe's family shack loving it more than ever. such a fun weekend with great friends and delicious food!

to have a wedding there would be hard.... but amazing!

the shack is on the beach in a bay - which means it is completely flat and you have to walk out around a km to get to deeper water. this is not so bad though, being on the SA coast it can be a little cold, and all along the way are pools which sometimes are waist deep - crystal clear and warmed from the sun!

there is a 'haunted house' just up the road, a sad and eerie deserted property with farming equipment in the sheds and furniture still in the house. it is a beautiful setting and would make for some pretty cool wedding photos!

the front deck on the shack is the best - so many lazy afternoons spent with drink in hand, magazines, books, guitars, snacks, knitting, drawing... anything goes!

this tractor was a bad investment for joe's dad, but we love it! i hope he never gets rid of it.

mojitos of dubious quality and authenticity...

...still lead to dance-offs!

they have a beautiful sand dune on the property - once you get up to the top it opens up into a big, flat, sheltered basin. THIS would be the place we would ideally like the reception. but it would be VERY difficult! not only are they not connected to power or water out there (everything is run off generators and rainwater tanks) but the only way we could get things up there would be to tow it on the quad... still, so pretty!

the cutest little house in old moonta town... i would love to see whats inside!

last night i found out that joe's mum is really stressed at the prospect of us getting married at the shack. this is really disappointing because when we've spoken to her about it she has said what a great idea it is! but to her friends she has been saying things like, 'we're going to have to get the power connected', and 'i'm going to have to spend a year trimming trees...' etc. its upsetting that she is completely missing the point which is that we know moonta is extremely rustic, its not perfect but thats what makes it such an amazing place, and thats why we would choose it! we don't want a perfectly manicured garden path to walk down, we want overhanging branches and sandy feet.

i am lucky to have a great relationship with joe's mum, but she can be a real stress-head at times and i feel that she really goes over the top with worrying about things, which is exactly what we don't want, joe and i are very casual people and i would hate for anyone to be stressed about our wedding, because i know i don't plan to be! finding this out has definitely made me have second thoughts about moonta... how annoying, it shouldn't really be about anyone else... but i suppose it has to be sometimes.

ps - did i jinx rafa with my last post!?? he pulled out of his next match with injury and is out of the open! poor rafa!

vamos rafa!

2010-01-22T17:49:00.006+09:30

(my favourite player - photo taken from telegraph.co.uk)

i couldn't care less about sports in general, until rafa is in australia at the australian open! then i'm obsessed!

tomorrow we are heading down to SA to check out joe's holiday shack. we are hoping it will be a perfect wedding venue, but its been two years since the last visit... and we may be romanticising a little... time will tell!

i've found so many beautiful wedding images, they are so inspiring but at the same time frustrating knowing that i would never be able to pull off something so lovely!

the thing to keep in mind is that as long as it reflects joe and i, it can't be more perfect... but if any of the details were as pretty as these ones found on green wedding shoes...

its all a bit much really...

summery goodness

2010-01-13T18:33:00.003+09:30

i've really been discovering the joys of frangelico lately. mainly as a result of buying a litre of it duty free.

a shot of this hazelnutty delight over ice with a squeeze of lime is truly the most delicious drink ever!

the trouble, i fear, is stopping at one.

Akira Isogawa - Printemps Été 2010

2010-01-09T09:03:00.005+09:30

i have always loved japanese/australian designer akira isogawa's beautiful, feminine collections, and his latest is no exception with its simple shapes and amazing detail. its been a dream of mine to wear an akira dress as a wedding dress, so i'll be paying special attention in the next year to see if 'the one' appears!

this one would be so perfect for a wedding dress don't you think? but alas, i am short and large in the bust so it would never work! (jade - i could see you in this one!)

some other favourite pieces from akira's most recent collection - in stores march 2010!

digital christmas cheer

2010-01-05T23:07:00.003+09:30

love my lovely talented friends! thanks neety for this beautiful card in digital format!

xoxo

house of harlow 1960

2010-01-04T23:00:00.007+09:30

embarrassingly enough, i've been a fan of nicole ritchie since back in the days when she was super trashy and best friends with paris hilton - i just found her hilarious. so its been really fun to watch her become so stylish and beautiful. i adore this picture of her from her recent house of harlow 1960 launch, and i am coveting so many pieces from her collection!

i'm in love with the vintage styling of these pieces, the mixture of leather and gold, and the way they all work together so beautifully!

bali love

2010-01-04T13:45:00.010+09:30

back from bali yesterday and miss it already! such a beautiful place full of lovely people, interesting architecture, gorgeous shops, amazing beaches, and lots of surprises!

we started in darwin....

with sunset drinks, party lights and palm trees

4 nights in lombok at a beautiful resort, the beaches there are volcanic and an ashy grey colour, it makes a perfect contrast to the beautifully coloured boats!

i got a special surprise on christmas day!!! ring design TBA... i'm an honest woman after 10 years!

our christmas lunch.... oh so delicious and fresh!

obligatory sunset shot # 1

poolside essentials...

we made friends with these surfers with their old school longboards

obligatory sunset shot #2 - happy hour version

gilli air - where there are no motor vehicles, and each hour lasts a day

ubud lights

happy new year!

xoxoxoxo

excuse me while i kiss the sky

2009-12-12T09:04:00.003+09:30

(this super-stylin' picture of jimi is from nogoodforme.com - my new favourite website!)

wrist wrap

2009-12-09T18:41:00.004+09:30

i absolutely love this wrist wrap which is by Claire Vivier. so simple and perfect, and SO at the top of my christmas wish list.... anyone?

do my toes look big in these?

2009-12-09T18:16:00.003+09:30

a sad news day made slightly better by new shoes...

lisa mitchell, hot chip

2009-12-06T09:57:00.002+09:30

i just adore this video for clean white love by lisa mitchell. it is so cute, innocent and beautiful. looking for this on youtube i also found some of her other videos, they are all so sweet and dreamy!

lisa is such a talented songwriter and musician. she puts words together so beautifully.

i've also been watching some of hot chip's videos this morning. the use of colour is amazing and their clips are so fun. love the paint splashes in this one!

perth

2009-12-05T22:56:00.008+09:30

for a beautiful reunion with old best friends

wine and a riverboat, a wedding

early morning breakfast, late night room service

blue-and-white striped garage doors in leafy suburbs

pink bikes, yellow rails, sunsets

stolen luggage, confusing public toilets

a dropped cake

little creatures, tacos, a holiday jog, thelma and louise

snacks, napoleon, ruebens

a day in freemantle....

it cost me all my frequent flyer points.

but was worth so much more.

wtf.

new

2009-12-05T22:23:00.007+09:30

i'm turning over a new leaf with my blog.

i was bored of the way my blog used to be. lets see if i can make it better, or not get bored with it again.

i'm not sure why i feel like i want to keep a blog. i'm quite a private person, and i was scared off from keeping a diary from the age of around 11, when my brother read it and told everyone at school who my crush was. i love the idea though, so i think this will be an exercise in opening up, sharing myself and things i love with anyone who might feel like its worth reading!

i hope it rains soon.

exciting! new! developments!

2008-10-20T21:45:00.019+09:30

exciting because:

a) we are almost ready to move in
b) you will have a place to stay, fully equiped with a working toilet and tiled shower, when you come to visit! and you WILL come to visit. as long as we know who you are. if we don't know who you are, there are a number of fine hotels in the alice springs area... i digress. our house has come a long way since the heady days of ticks and show dog ribbons. a long way indeed. here are some photos to prove it.

this is the entranceway of the house. we haven't done a thing to it, so this particular area of the house hasn't come a long way at all.

this is joe looking suspiciously like he's wearing his undies on the outside of his tracksuit pants... but look! a sliding door! this is our lounge/dining area, once we'd ripped up all the festy stuff and done some sanding, or, as i like to say, "made it into a somewhat blank canvas".

the door! closer up.

the hallway! amazing!

the bathroom!

i like to call this one "where has all the gyprock gone?" the hole in the wall between the main bedroom and the wardrobe.

inside of the cupboards. i'm thinking now i should have painted them yellow. you'll soon see why.

study and some drawers which go into the cupboards. should have painted them yellow too...

the shower: minimalist perfection.

joe: dusty perfection?

the door between the wardrobe and outside. if we weren't lazy, we would have filled it in.

white paint! who would've thought?

yes. that IS ayers rock. it's THAT CLOSE.

and whats this? tiles you say? looking good! also please note awesome aluminium skirting!

more tiles!

and here: SOME MORE TILES! can't get enough of that tiley goodness.

the toilet looking better, bathroom still looking like a bathroom but without tiles.

i was possibly a bit hasty in chosing a colour for the cupboard interiors. being that NOW i like yellow, but then i liked green. the green looks brighter in the pictures than in real life, but it is still pretty frikkin bright and not like i thought it was going to be. however, as it is the cupboard INterior, who cares?

how much is that stalker in the window....?

the kitchen - lookin average...

looking better...

only the drill of destiny is any match for what lies ahead:

the flat-pack of DOOM.

thanks for all your help mark! your rovers footy shorts clashed majorly with joe's westies jacket, but it was a small price to pay for expertise in the mysteries of tiling.

bathroom newly tiled including obligatory feature wall...

okay i'm bored of this now. and annoyed because i can't get the stupid spaces between the words and the pictures even.

torture at ti tree

2008-09-24T20:27:00.006+09:30

if there ever comes a time when someone asks you to assist them in the planting of grape vines, my advice to you would be to run. run far far away in the opposite direction of ti tree.

at the risk of sounding like someone who has never done anything hard in her life, this was the frikkin hardest thing i've possibly ever done! the sun was soooo hot, i have little to no skin left on my knees or knuckles, and i appear to have sprained or strained both of my little fingers (HA HA!!!).

i was actually delusional enough to think that it might be kind of fun to do this - i knew it would be hard, but not that hard! not at all like the time i went grape picking, where i got to talk to my friend all morning whilst picking grapes, then have a break for a delicious italian easter feast and then spend the rest of the afternoon driving around in a truck and watching her grandpa eating the freshly picked grapes and spitting the seeds back into the container.

the clouds on the horizon looked promising, but seemed to part when they reached the farm.

SOMEONE got to drive the water tank truck all day. not me! (it was the old guy)

the vines just looked like little sticks. however, i got to wear long gloves up to my elbows, like a vet.

the rows stretched on forever!

for ange: token shot of joe working

dirt: the new black ~~at 6 mile camp~~

it hurts. it hurts so bad.

tree of mass* destruction

2008-09-24T17:03:00.007+09:30

you know its a good day in alice when the sky gets dark with stormy clouds

there's raindrops on your window and the car parked in front of your work happens to have its sunroof open...

branches are blown from tree trunks across the road...

and people frolick in the streets:

but wait - whats this?

why helloo mr crazy-branches.

what are you doing on my fence?

big thanks to tim, alex, kirsten, thea, the guy next door and the lady whos driveway got blocked for all their assistance in cleaning this mofo up!!

*minor

stormy weather

2008-09-18T08:47:00.011+09:30

i'm lucky where i am currently working to have a big window right next to my desk, and nothing to do all day, enabling me to stare at whats going on outside, all day. so i'm writing this and looking out the window (touch typing is awesome), and the sky is this crazy hazy orange colour, because of a dust storm type thing that is currently occurring.

this morning was pretty much normal. clear blue skies, the usual crowds of people sitting outside my window with bbq chickens waiting for the bank across the street to open, people walking past checking out their own reflections, etc.

after lunch it started getting really dark, and i watched a massive storm roll in. the sky was black and there was thunder and lightening, and it started pouring with rain (with some hail) and blowing a gale.

then the a-frame sign from my work started to get blown across the footpath. i figured, well, i'd better go and get it before it does any damage, so i ran out after it. by the time i caught up with it, it was halfway across the street. after stepping up to my knees in gutter-water (no open wounds, thank jebus) i grabbed the sign just as another big gust of wind almost blew it out of my hands. at this point it occurred to me that i had picked a really bad day to go prancing around the streets wearing a dress. given the fact that, if the wind was strong enough to blow a metal sign around, imagine the ~~emotional~~ damage it could do to someone wearing a flimsy piece of poplin.

remember when at school you were always paranoid about your school dress blowing up, but it didn't actually matter so much if it did because you always had boxer shorts on underneath in preparation for such a thing occuring? but now that you're older, you don't need to wear boxer shorts under your dress because we all know by now that this sort of thing never actually happens?

um, except it does. and when it happens, it happens in front of a group of tradies who are standing across the road watching the storm.

luckily because of my "reflexes of a panther" i managed to drop the sign and pull my dress down before anyone saw anything. i think. thats what i'm telling myself anyway.

in conclusion i would like to point out how disgruntled i am that seemingly EVERYONE else in alice springs got to go home because the power was off at their work. why is the power still on at my work? why!???

update: okay so my dress flying up around my shoulders wasn't the worst thing to happen to me as a result of this storm. i went to check on old second crustiest, and what do you know, a massive branch from one of our trees had broken off and smashed down the side fence, completely blocking the neighbours driveway yet somehow managing to miss landing on their car by about 30cm. damn you nature!

here's some pictures that i found on some news sight (http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2008/09/23/6080_ntnews.html) about the storm. i also took some pictures of my stupid tree etc but due to circumstances beyond my control i cannot upload them at this time.

anzac hill in the dust storm.

please note that on the website, this picture was captioned using the word tunderstorm. tunderstorm? ha ha!

oh red robin!

2008-08-27T19:52:00.004+09:30

you will be pleased to know that the top of 80's butterfly glory had its debut on the weekend! a girl told me that she had the same top, and paid $125 on ebay for hers! we then agreed that mine was more awesome because i only paid $65.

its an epidemic. fo' real.

2008-08-27T16:59:00.009+09:30

i may have previously mentioned the personalised number plate issue in alice springs. recording these atrocities and posting them on this blog is the first step in the implementation of my intervention program entitled "hey residents of alice springs: your number plates suck (2008)". despite the lack of funding plus general public hostility, i expect the project to be a minor success.

to demonstrate the crisis and subsequent need to raise public awareness outside of alice springs, i will now post several examples of numberplates photographed in and around alice springs. i think you will agree, the time to act is now.

nb: what you are about to see is but a drop in the ocean of numberplates. more to come as the situation unfolds.

he's a mainiak, maaaaainiak!

yeah, well sorry if i've offended your or someone you know's number plates. its nothing personal, its just how i roll:

"no number plates on me bro!"

seriously. thats how i roll. because i found this bike in joe's dads shed. pretty frikkin sweet.

just like changing rooms or renovation rescue. but longer and more boring and with no sponge effect feature walls.

2008-08-21T12:25:00.000+09:30

i'm not being harsh when i say that our house is the second crustiest house on the street (at the moment!!!). last week, i directed a friend there by saying, just look for the second crustiest house on the street. she had no trouble finding it.

here are some pictures of the first two weekends of renovating. lets be honest. they're not particularly interesting but whatever.

the house as we found it:

(i know, i know, why change a thing?)

but the floral curtains had to go.

"mock slate" lino. really bad right??

housing commission brown standard issue floor tiles

the kitchen. what a delight.

the main bedroom. this is the wardrobe we took out to make the walk-in wardrobe. (i kicked it - wow!)

hey, is that an alice springs town council worker standing there watching that westies player from 1992 doing all the work? because i'm pretty sure that is standard ASTC behaviour.

metz hiding in the car: looks like a staffie, behaves like a GIRL.

oh hello, whats this?

lets cut some holes!

hey, is that a REAL tradie in our midst? ha ha! no. its just phil.

more council workers?

i'll show you, window!

and then there was a hole in the wall that remained for approximately 5 weeks

bringing the outdoors in.

and what a lot of outdoors there is:

its a jungle down there, full of ticks and a chook yard.

so that is about it for now. pretty boring! but i would like to make special mention of joe's niece for her chalk graffiti on our driveway - profound words to live by:

("god wants us to be a christian!")

HA HA HAAAAAAA!

look at me with my blog!

2008-08-19T11:06:00.000+09:30

attention lovers of home renovations of a ~~dubious quality~~ meticulous nature, and also those who have always dreamed of reading about and viewing pictures of alice springs at the click of a couple of buttons and the typing in of some URLs.

being jobless and not having much to occupy my time, i've had a lot of time to think about things. one of these things being that rather than block up everyone's inboxes with my ridiculous group emails of rantings and pictures, i could make a blog for you to peruse at your leisure, of your own free will. therefore - if you don't care, you won't have to receive emails from me any more! hurrah!

firstly you will be able to view my house in all its diy glory. before and after pictures and also some awesome action shots will delight and excite you. then, who knows what it will turn into. perhaps it will be some super hilarious pictures from around alice springs. perhaps it will simply turn into a forum where i can show anita all the stuff i buy, because we can't go shopping together any more. perhaps it will become an outlet for my concerns about the ongoing personalised number plate crisis that is gripping alice springs (the crisis being that there are too many). i suppose i will have to wait and see. You can rest assured that anything that appears on the blog will be written in my native tongue: sarcasm.

the thing about blogs is, you can leave me some comments and you can also subscribe to receive an email whenever i make a new post, so you know when i’ve posted something. so feel free to do this, and if you don't want to, thats okay. no one's trying to make you do something that you don't want to do.

please refer to the FAQ section for further information.

FAQ

q. what is a blog anyway?
a. that’s a good question. according to blogger, ‘ a blog is a personal diary. a daily pulpit. a collaborative space. a political soapbox. a breaking-news outlet. a collection of links. your own private thoughts. memos to the world’. but that sounds a bit gay. basically a blog is so that people* who think that other people give a shit can post their ‘witty’ comments on the internet for all to ignore, in the hope of one day being discovered by a publisher and becoming a ‘real’ writer.

q. so i suppose now you think you’re alice springs’ answer to carrie bradshaw, sitting at your window smoking and typing and talking to yourself about new york, do you?
a. ~~yes~~. no! don’t be stupid!

q. why isn’t your name on your blog?
a. hey man, i live in a small town okay! there is always, no matter how small, a risk of someone discovering me giving shit to their personalised number plate/dance style etc and wanting to get their cousins onto me! better safe than sorry which is why i will attempt to remain somewhat anonymous. you know who i am.

q. hey – now i love blogs! what other awesome blogs do you suggest i look at?
a. just check out my blogs list for all your blog needs.

*not me!